Father Gabriel
by fangirlnodoubt
Summary: On the way to Washington, Daryl sees something he thought he would never see again. The car that took Beth. One shot


One shot. Disclaimer: I do not own the walking dead

* * *

The crossbow slipped through his hands, creating a thud on the ground below him. He stood there for a while, ignoring the questioning glances thrown his way.

"Daryl, are you- are you ok?" The man Daryl had learned to call brother asked; stepping forward to face him.

With a simple shrug, Daryl nodded his head towards the small black car in front.

"That car. I've seen it before" he states, shifting his gaze towards Rick.

"Where have you seen it before?" Questions Rick, shifting his own gaze to the car with the white cross on the back window.

"You know" Daryl replies. Rick remembered Daryl telling Maggie about what happened to her sister. When Maggie went into tears, he described the car that took her. This was the car that took Beth.

Rick sighs as Maggie comes forward.

"Are you sure?" Maggie asks hopefully

Daryl nods slightly

"I've never forgotten it"

A barley noticeable smirk plays on Maggie's lips.

"Come on then" she states before leaping of into a jog towards the car; quickly followed by Glenn.

The rest of them follow pursuit, Daryl trailing at the back. If Beth was near, she should have her family meet her, not some Redneck hick.

Daryl scanned the perimeter, looking out for any movement in the woods, as the others investigated the car.

"Someone was defiantly held in the trunk. Recently" Rick stated.

"How recent?" Abraham asked

"Could be a few days. Could be a few weeks" Rick replied

"Look" Glenn says pointing to a very Small hiking path into the forest.

"Come on we're wasting time. Every second we stand here, is another second that Eugene could die. We need to get to Washington now" Abraham shouts, getting more and more aggravated.

"Hey, this could lead to one of our people; we are not leaving until we're sure she's not here. So you're just going to have to deal with that" Rick says getting into Abrahams face.

"Come on let's go!" Daryl shouts above the voices. He was beginning to walk along the Track. Maggie followed behind him, behind her was Glenn then Eugene, Abraham, Rosita, Tara, Sasha, Tyreese, Carol, Carl, Bob, Rick and Michonne. Carol held Judith tight in her arms as they weaved they're way through the branches.

Daryl examined the ground below him, seeing if he could find any fresh footprints: to no avail. That was until he noticed a recently snapped twig.

"Wait" he called

"What is it?" Maggie asked

"Someone's been here recently"

"Was it her?" Glenn asks

"Can't tell. There's no footprints. Unless it's rained in the last day or two, someone was covering their tracks"

"It's the end of the world, who would bother to cover their tracks?" Carol asks

"Let's go find out" Rick says patting Carls shoulder and moving to take the lead.

It was still early, so they wasn't bothered about time. Even for this early hour, the sun was already heating up, sending its rays of light through the leaves, boiling the remaining survivors.

"Look" Rick whispers, pointing to a small ash cloud in the sky; probably from a small camp fire recently gone out.

Daryl nods before moving into a crouched position. Slowly and quietly moving towards the fire. The others follow; however they're not as quiet.

Deciding it was pointless, because if anyone was there, they would have heard them by now, Daryl grunts and stands up. Slowly he enters the camp, his cross bow raised.

The first thing he notices is a walker, having a feast on the stomach of a man handcuffed to a pole. Next to it was another pole; but it had emptied handcuffs like someone managed to escape. A small tent was situated across from the poles, in the middle was a fire, that had barley noticeable flames still coming out. Other than that it was just bushes and trees.

The others slowly emerged from the woods and took in the surroundings. Michonne stepped forward and took out the walker with her katana before stabbing the captive man in the head.

"BETH!" Maggie called.

A black man emerged from the trees with a wooden plank in his hands. Before anyone could see him, he smashed the plank into the back of Glenn's head; making him fall to the floor unconscious.

The stranger was dressed like a priest and was knocked to the ground by Rick

"What have you done with Beth"

"Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, heal those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases, and drive out demons. You have received without paying, so give without being paid" he laughed as he spoke these words

"Y'all knew this was coming, and you didn't care. YOU DIDN'T CARE!" He shouted.

"You had a girl. She was blonde, had blue eyes-"

"Yes I remember. The Greene girl. You just missed her"

"What do you mean by that?" Maggie asked desperately

He laughed again before answering.

"You should have got here yesterday. Before they took her"

"Who? Who took her?" Rick questioned

"Oh. Oh you don't know, you don't know!?" He said

"Who?" Rick calmly asks holding a gun to his head

"It's too late. They'll kill you before you even get a glimpse of them"

He said.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm so sorry" he repeated

"For what?" Abraham asks

"This" the stranger responds before ripping the gun out of Ricks hand, putting it to his head and pulling the trigger

"NO!" Daryl shouts, but it was too late.

The only leverage Daryl had too finding Beth was gone. And so was Beth.


End file.
